cosmology Study of the structure of the Universe on the

largest scale. Contained within it is COSMOGONY.

Our early view of the Universe was prejudiced by the
belief that we occupied a special place within it at the
centre. Only in the 20th century have we realized that the
Earth is but a small planet of a dim star, located in the
outer suburbs of a typical galaxy. Perhaps the most important
astronomical discovery of the early 20th century was
HUBBLE S realization that the dim NEBULAE he observed
were in fact enormous systems of thousands of millions of
stars lying far outside our Galaxy. Soon after this discovery,
astronomers realized that these galaxies were all receding
from the Earth. Hubble, along with other astronomers,
obtained optical spectra of many galaxies and found that
their spectral lines were always shifted towards the red
(longer wavelengths). He interpreted these REDSHIFTS as
being a universal DOPPLER EFFECT, caused by the expansion
of the Universe. Furthermore, the speed he inferred
was found to be proportional to the galaxy s distance, a
relationship known as the HUBBLE LAW.
It is now known that both the shift and the speed distance
proportionality follow naturally from an overall
expansion of the scale size of the Universe. Galaxies are
redshifted because the Universe has a different scale size
now compared with the size it was when the light was emitted
from the galaxies. Nevertheless, time has shown that
Hubble was correct in his interpretation that the speed of
recession is proportional to distance. Today, the constant
of proportionality bears his name (see HUBBLE CONSTANT).
Close to the Sun, the distance of galaxies can be determined
from the properties of some VARIABLE STARS they
contain such as the Cepheids or from the size of HII
regions. As we move farther out into the Universe, however,
these methods become increasingly inaccurate. Eventually,
distances can only be estimated by measuring the redshift
and relying on the accuracy of the Hubble relation.
Unfortunately, for some of the most distant objects, such
as QUASARS, we do not have adequate confirmation that this
procedure for determining distances is valid. Some
astronomers believe that at least part of the quasar redshifts
may originate from unknown non-cosmological causes.
Attempts to determine the nature of the reshifts and the
expansion rate have occupied much of the available time on
large telescopes. Today the question is still unresolved.
However, perhaps the most important cosmological
problems that remain at the beginning of the 21st century
are to determine the rate at which the universal expansion
is taking place (determining the Hubble constant), how it
has expanded in the past and how it will continue to
behave in the future. To these must be added the question
of whether the overall geometry of the Universe is closed
or open . In an OPEN UNIVERSE, the total volume of space
is infinite, the universe has no boundary and will expand
for ever. CLOSED UNIVERSES contain a finite amount of
space, may or may not have boundaries and will eventually
collapse back on themselves.
Attempts to obtain a grand view of the Universe have
led to the construction of cosmological models. A starting
point for many cosmologists has been the finding that the
Universe appears much the same in all directions (the socalled
ISOTROPY) and at all distances (HOMOGENEITY).
However, the expansion of the Universe would at first
seem to suggest that the overall density of the distribution
of galaxies must decrease so that they become more
sparsely distributed as time goes on.
Cosmological models have included the STEADY-STATE
THEORY of Hermann BONDI, Thomas GOLD and Fred
HOYLE in which the Universe is the same not only in all
places but also at all times. It therefore had no beginning,
will have no end and never changes at all when viewed on
the large scale. This theory required matter to be created
as the Universe expanded in order that the overall density
of galaxies should not decrease. For this reason it is also
referred to as the CONTINUOUS CREATION model.
On the other hand, according to supporters of the BIG
BANG models originally proposed by George GAMOW,
Ralph Alpher (1921 ) and Robert Herman (1914 97),
the whole Universe was created in a single instant about
20 billion years ago and is presently expanding (the modern
consensus value is about 15 billion years). In the
future it may continue to expand or possibly collapse back
on itself depending on the total amount of matter and
energy in it, that is, whether or not the Universe is open or
closed. An important cosmological question is the MISSING
MASS PROBLEM: the amount of matter we see in the
Universe is far smaller (by a factor of about 100) than the
amount we infer from the motions of the galaxies.
Definitive observations to discriminate between cosmological
models are hard to make. The most informative
parts of the Universe are those farthest away. Unfortunately,
the objects we observe in such regions are faint and their
nature is unknown. It is extremely difficult to tell to what
extent quasars, for example, are similar to the nearer and
more familiar objects. And if we cannot make comparisons,
we cannot use them as standards to test cosmological
models. It is also not known if our Earth-derived
physical laws are applicable in the Universe at large.
Cosmologists have made several important discoveries,
including an attempt to determine the Hubble constant.
The DECELERATION PARAMETER, which determines
whether the Universe will expand for ever or eventually
collapse back on itself, has also been estimated. Recent
observations of supernovae have shed some light on the
values of these important cosmological parameters. They
indicate that the Universe is probably accelerating and will
never collapse back again.
Another important discovery in cosmology was the
COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND radiation, which provided
strong evidence against the steady-state theory. Its
discovery also brought with it problems of its own: we do
not understand how this background radiation can be so
uniform in all directions when it comes from different
parts of the Universe that have never been in communication
with each other. Attempts have been made to invoke a
very rapid period of expansion in the Universe s history in
order to remove this difficulty (the so-called inflationary
universe), but these attempts appear to many cosmologists
to be less than convincing (see INFLATION).